A Little, No, A LOT of Kansas Hospitality!!!!

We showed up at the Beemers, suitcases in hand, weary and worn, and the first thing to greet us was the smell of supper. Dawn is a jewel! A wonderful cook, a wonderful hostess, a good friend!!
Once we were fortified with fine vittles we went exploring with Rod as our guide. First, in the Boss Hawg cadillac, second in the Bisel Mobile. 

I had never been to the Spillman Cemetery, resting place of Willis Daily, son of Susanna Alderdice, captured in a Lincoln County Indian raid in 1869. Her children were killed; Willis, injured and left for dead, miraculously survived. Friend Jeff Broome wrote Dog Soldier Justice about the raid and the attempt to rescue Susanna. As the Cheyenne saw the cavalry approaching,they killed Susanna. She was buried somewhere on the Summit Springs battlefield and Jeff hopes to find her and bring her back to this family cemetery. As I walked through the graveyard, the music of Dave Zerfas kept playing in my head. ("Six String Justice...you gotta have it). After the Spillman Cemetery, we headed the other direction to one of most beautiful gravesites I've ever seen--overlooking the rolling countryside and facing a monumental buffalo.Rod and Gary discussed the engineering required to build the beast.

 

We had spent the previous two days in Lincoln, Kansas, for their annual Lincoln Days celebration. Troy Strahan, bottom, had a moving performance of the 16th president. It was a wonderful weekend, full of rich history and warm friends, old and new.

Bail Out Blues

For a different look at the economic bailout, my friend Henry McClure (aka Denny Crane) made this observation:

"Bailout????????!!!!!!!

Hell, back in 1990, the Government seized the Mustang Ranch brothel in Nevada for tax evasion and, as required by law, tried to run it. They failed and it closed. Now we are trusting the economy of our country and our banking system to the same nit-wits who couldn't make money running a whore house and selling whiskey!"

That's about as succinct as it gets.

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C.O. W. B. O. Y. S.

The official publication of the Cockeyed Old West Band of Yahoos Society arrived a few days ago. Jim Gray and his lassie Kassi do a great job with this publication and it's just full of fascinating stories from the era when Kansas was the forefront of the Wild West. Jim has a new book, Desperate Seed: Ellsworth, Kansas, on the Violent Frontier.

According to our buddy, Dave Zerfas:

Desperate Seed is well researched and brings to life the excitement, danger, and amazing characters that walked the stage of Frontier Kansas in the 1860's and 1870's. Jim's ability to lay out the timeline and intersperse amazing stories of shoot-outs, fights, hangings, will keep the reader eager for the next page. To have been but a fly on the wall. . .

Hey, an endorsement from Zerf is high praise. Email kansascowboy@kans.com for subscriptions, book orders, or just to tell Jim and Kassi that Deb said Hey!!!